Discoveries
by jareaujareau
Summary: After the death of his girlfriend, Hotch makes a discovery that will haunt him forever.


It was an unusually cold morning. The past few days had been fairly warm, but today was an exception. Today the snow was falling at a slow pace, and the members of the BAU could see their breaths in the air as they walked back to their cars in silence. Today was the morning of Emily Prentiss's funeral. Today was the morning that they said goodbye, for real this time, to a great friend.

Her death was sudden. Emily had been in several car accidents before, but none of them had been bad enough to take her life. She hadn't even been on a case this time; she was driving to go get Jack and Hotch some dinner while they finished up a movie at home. A drunk driver had run a red light and had slammed into the side of her car. She had made it until the ambulance got there, but was pronounced dead before she had gotten to the hospital.

Hotch was devastated when he got the phone call. The unit chief blamed himself for her death. No matter how many times Jack or a member of the team tried to convince him that it wasn't his fault, that he couldn't have known, he still believed deep down that he was responsible. If he hadn't been so busy watching that movie, him and Jack would've gone with her to get dinner. And Jack would have taken just a little too long with getting his shoes on, and they would've driven through the intersection after the drunk driver had gone through. If he would've talked to her for just a little bit longer before she left, or made his order just a little bit different than it had always been, Emily would still be here.

It was hard for Hotch to accept the truth. It was hard for him to fall asleep at night without Emily next to him, or to walk into work and not see her bright face. It was hard for him to look into the driveway and not see her car parked next to his. It was especially hard for Hotch to have to look at Jack and realize that he had lost yet another important woman in his life.

Jack was taking Emily's death even worse than he had taken Haley's. Maybe it was because he was older now and could understand what had happened better. Maybe it was because he was much more used to seeing Hotch and Emily happy and together than he had seen Hotch and Haley. But whatever it was, the little boy was absolutely devastated by the death of his father's girlfriend.

It was obvious how hard the Hotchner boys had been hit by Emily Prentiss's death. Hotch had taken some time off of work, and had been drinking more than usual. He didn't want to drink around Jack, so he waited until the 6 year old went to bed at night. But he would drink until he couldn't walk and then would pass out on the couch. And then he would do it all over again the next night. He couldn't bring himself to sleep in the bed. He had barely been in the bedroom since that night. Emily's clothes were still scattered around the room, in the same place that she had left them. Her gun and badge were still sitting on the edge of the bed, where she had left them when she had gotten off of work that day. Her cell phone charger was still plugged into the wall on her side of the bed. Hotch hadn't touched anything of hers, and he didn't plan on touching anything anytime soon.

He slept with Emily's pillow. Her scent still lingered in the fabric, and occasionally he would find a piece of her hair stuck to the pillowcase. It was strange, he knew, but even in his drunken stupor, sleeping with Emily's pillow made him feel as if everything was okay, as if everything was better again. But when he woke up in the morning, he was brought back to reality. He was brought back to the reality that his girlfriend, his beautiful Emily, was truly gone this time and she was not coming back.

Jack had been silent for most of the time since he heard the news. He had kept to himself, staying in his room most of the time. The only time that he came out was to eat or to go to school. The rest of the time, he stayed alone in his bedroom, keeping the stuffed monkey that Emily had made with him at Build-A-Bear within arm's reach.

Hotch got the silent blonde boy into the backseat of the SUV before climbing into the driver's seat. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself before he started the engine. He had spoken at the funeral, and he had spoken from the heart. He talked about how great of a friend Emily was to the team, how wonderful of a girlfriend and lover she was to him, and how much of an amazing and loving mother she was to Jack. Out of all of the people in attendance, not one of them had a dry eye. Jack had spoken as well, but he hadn't gotten much out before he started sobbing uncontrollably, and was unable to finish what he wanted to say.

Before he started to drive away, Hotch glanced to the back seat. He looked at his son, who had a small object in his hand. "What do you have there, buddy?" Aaron asked, and Jack handed him the small glossy paper. Hotch raised an eyebrow as he took it from him, even more confused once he saw what it was.

"Prentiss, Emily

DOB: 10/12/1970

12/13/2012

8 weeks, 3 days"

It was a sonogram. The date was 3 days before Emily had died. Hotch took a deep breath as he continued to look down at the image. Emily had been pregnant.


End file.
